The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-04-24
NO, NO SLAVERY.

In TIE HERALD of last Sunday, We
pointed out why Mormons are united
We showed that their social, CONNER
cial and religious Interests are 30 closely
interviewer; that the opposition wageG
against them, covering nearly every
point of their belief and directed against
the dearest objects of their being, is SC
relentless, that there is but one course
open to them, an% that is absolute
unity. The Mormon has but one slave
master, and that is belief; he is dashed
into obedience by the whips of reason
and faith; he is chained alone by his
conscience. He comes and goes as he
lists; he is neither forced into Nor
monism, nor forced to remain there.
If this be slavery, then all who are
bound together in unity of
belief or material interests are slaves.
Despite these obvious facts, the Tribune
persists in the false cry that the Nor.
mons are slaves, The reasoning is
lame; the motive is the infamous one of
reducing the Mormon people to actual
slavery through the awakening of pre-
jRdice. Both the reasoning and the
motive are worthy the intellectual and
moral cripple who writes for the 7rt5-
tlae.
In reply to the article men toned
That paper comes along with a "proof"
of It's charge of slavery, which caps the
climax of sophistry. We are informed
that certain prominent elder in the
church went before the court and pro-
missed to obey the laws; that he was de-
posed from his ecclesiastical Office. and
would have been financially ruined had
he not "been entrenched in way which
the Church chiefs could not reach"
Ergo, Mormon slavery. Gaze at this
lace handkerchief of logic; hold it up to
the light. You cen see through it; handle
it tenderly, it is apt to tear.
In other words, q man makes such
promises to a court, that those in &C.
clesiastical authority in the Mormon
Church having a right to decide, Judge
to be substantial recantation of prin-
cipie; he is removed from his high
oftice-and this is slavery. 1t is bosh.
There is not religious or secular insti-
tuition in the world that does not claim
and exercise the undoubted right of
determining the standing of its mem.
bers. Take the other view of the mat
ter, the direct result of the Tribune posi-
ton, and what have we? That man
must be permitted to express Just ex-
actly such opinions as he chooses, to
assume precisely such attitudes as
his fancy dictates, and still be
free from ecclesiastical discipline.
With such rule Bob Ingersoll would
make fit candidate for orders and q
Mormon elder be qualified for the
Episcopal ministry; the topper would
become candidate for the presidency
of the temperance union, and the
traitor who reveals the signs and grips
of Masonry would be safely intrenched
in his lodge; there would be no cause
to remove Dick Turpin from the police
force or Madame Restell from the con.
vent.
The charge that the elder would have
been financially ruined if he had not
been too strongly intrenched. is
equally false. There has not been
semblance of an attempt to iniure
him in his business; there has
not been desire to do so.
Very much is said of the financial
ruin that is visited upon every man
who in Utah separates himself from the
Mormon Church. Very much of this
talk is baseless; some of it has foun-
dation in fact. The rain falls alike
upon the Mormon and the apostate:
the soil yields lis substance alike to
both. Wool grows upon the sheep of
the apostate, and fat accumulates upon
his beeYes, as well as upon the Nor
mons And the apostate fourishes
uueotiy III proportion as he IS lnduStri-
Gus. with no man 10 modest or make
him afraid. So far as sacrificing the
friendship of Mormohs is concerned, he
does not care for the former, and as an
avowed and bitter enemy of the Nor
mon people, as he generally is.shec can
not hope to hold the latter. As mat-
ter OF preservation, of consistency.
OF reason, with whom should a Nor
mon deal, the merchant whose infu-
ence and cash are at the command of |
the Loyal League, or the one whose
I1thes and offerings are at the disposal
'f his friends? In one case he builds
up the man who would strip him of his
rights; in the other, the man who is